Playing well with others leads to tolerance
Bethanie Roeglin
Editor Bethanie Roeglin
Many students here know firsthand about the realities of hate crimes. They have experience the terror, guilt and pain at the hands of their tormentors. They are victims for many reasons such as their religion, color, who they choose to date, and sometimes just the fact that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This needs to end here and now.
Religious discrimination is hurtful because it often attacks a people's core values. They are made to feel that they are lesser people because of who they decide to worship. Religion is a deeply personal relationship and absolutely no reason to put your beliefs above others.
Color or race discrimination seems to run rampant. But this should be the least discriminatory; everyone is a different color! No one can choose their parents; they can't change what color they are. (Look at Michael Jackson.)
I have to honestly say that sexual orientation discrimination never was a big thought for me. Well, thanks to college, my eyes have been opened. Not that I thought it didn't exist, but I can't understand why anyone would care about the choice of sex partner, unless it was your significant other that they were sleeping with.
Sometimes I think we just take ourselves too seriously. Life was not meant to be so darn straight. If it were, we would all be like the people in the book, "A Wrinkle in Time," by Madeleine L'Engle. If we want to see what life is really supposed to be like, go visit a preschool or early elementary school. The children there don't care about a person's color or religion. They don't care if they are in a wheelchair or mentally challenged. Kids have yet to learn that people who are different are bad. They just want to play.
How can we as students even attempt to stop the hate crimes? It's really quite simple; we start by our own actions. We may not like what one person chooses to do, but does it matter? Why are we so important that our way is the only way there should be?
We can show that we won't allow this hate crime behavior on our campus, by not participating in negative behavior. We can show our sensitivities and our maturity by acknowledging the differences and celebrate the fact that we indeed have differences.
We can start small and lead by example. We can show other campuses that we can accomplish big things and we will not tolerate hate crimes. We are a force to be reckoned with - we are students, who have seen a need for a change and will not shy away from it.
This ends here and now!
Remember, life is to short to worry about such little things. It's the big things we need to be worried about. People are just people; take them for who they are. You never know - they may have something interesting to share with you. Now, pick up your ball and let's go play.
